As recently as five to seven years ago, careers in the publishing industry were actually limited because of the small number of existing publishing houses, and the majority of those have been privately owned for generations and remain so today. However, many opportunities exist in the publishing industry because of the new innovative technology that has arisen out of the Internet.

Probably the most obvious job within the publishing industry is that of an author. The second most well known or recognized job outside of the publishing industry is that of a literary agent, and the third is editor.

Authors write the material or texts that are to be published. They submit their work to literary agents who forward the work onto the editors of publishing companies. Sometimes authors will forward their work directly onto the editor, foregoing the agent who will take a percentage cut of the author’s paycheck.

If the author is really lucky, the editor will call him directly with a job.

One of the problems is letting go of out-dated thinking and processes. While some places may have a ‘top-down’ problem, others have leadership that actually do think in terms of the 21st century and new media opportunities. But they are most likely the exception. Part of the problem is one of a slow-to-change work culture.

There are many (great) veteran editors and sales people in publishing companies near and far that have held on tightly to the same way of doing things; editors used to only have to work on a print version of a magazine and sales made fairly easy commissions on recurring print advertising. Now editors frequently have several outlets to satisfy (print, web, podcast interviews, webcasts and, yes, videos) while sales people have to sell sponsorships for these new content vehicles. Sales people also need to understand these new technologies to convincingly sell them.

Thepeople working in desktop publishing use a computer software in order to produce and format publication material. They basically use numbers, text and data to prepare the publication material. The publication material can range from newsletters, newspapers to magazines and books.

There is a huge demand for people in the desktop publishing industry. In fact the statistics show that about 4 out of 10 desktop publishing professionals work in various newspapers, books, periodicals and directories. Every 1 professional out of 4 work in the printing industry and other related activities.

The statistics also show that employment figures are also expected to grow faster in the near future.The jobs are easily accessible for people with a certificate or degree. To receive a degree you can get a training from an accredited vocational school or college. The time that you’ll have to invest in order to get a certificate in desktop publishing is not much, in fact it in about a year, what it takes to get yourself a desktop publishing certificate.

There are other lesser known jobs in the publishing industry other than author, agent, editor, and publisher. One of these lesser known jobs is that of author publicist. The publicist takes the published book, the author, and puts together a public relations campaign that goes beyond simply marketing. If the author is a growing phenomenon, chances are that the publicist can be seen right beside the author during book tours.